It’s all about the songs and their execution. When musicians who know the music like it is the veins in their hands and hearts play the classic songs and do it like it’s no big deal but it is a big deal, it becomes music that stands the test of time, yet still makes sense in our contemporary lives. All of the fine musicians on Romantic New Orleans know this and play like this throughout this fine album. Given its theme of romantic New Orleans, there is little agitation here, but there are peppy tunes and songs of love, both pure of heart and sly of innuendo. Susemihl’s vocals on “Sugar Blue” are sweet but imply a little more. He and the band turn up the sincerity a bit more on “I’m Alone Because I Love You.” And it is great to hear a traditional arrangement of Shirley and Lee’s “Let The Good Times Roll” with the horns alternating the vocal lines and iconic piano riff before the vocals come in. However, Farrow is the quiet star of this session. He never does anything flashy, but the music never calls for it. Cue up “These Foolish Things” and revel in the way that he plays it in the classy and right manner that makes the tune sing. Throughout the record, he hits the melodies and his understated solos with pure tone and sure-voiced confidence that never calls attention to himself, but allows the listeners to hear the simple beauty of the songs.